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The growth of the City Football Group has been boosted with the addition of Indian Super League side Mumbai City FC to the family.
A deal to buy a 65% stake in the club was announced on Thursday. The remaining 35% is co-owned by Bollywood actor Ranbir Kapoor and accountant Bimal Parekh who were both existing shareholders before the deal took place.
Announcing the deal, a statement from the City Football Group read:
”City Football Group (CFG) has agreed on a deal to acquire a majority stake in its eighth club, Mumbai City FC in the Indian Super League, marking a major move into Indian football.”
”The deal will see Mumbai City FC benefit from the Group’s commercial and football know-how, whilst at the same time delivering a new and exciting element to the CFG global commercial platform,” it concluded.
City Group’s purchase of a stake in the club brings the number of sides CFG has a stake in to eight. The others are spread across several continents from Europe, Australia and Asia, to North and South America. They include Spanish second division side Girona, Melbourne City in Australia, Yokohama F Marinos in Japan and Chinese League Two side Sichuan Jiuniu. Rounded out by New York City FC in the United States and Club Atletico Torque in Uruguay.
According to the chairman of Manchester City, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, the latest member of the family is expected to deliver benefits to all parties involved.
”We believe that this investment will deliver transformative benefits to Mumbai City FC, to City Football Group and to Indian Football as a whole,” he stated.
Founded in 2014, Mumbai City is yet to achieve any significant success in the Indian top flight. After a third-place finish last term, the team currently sits in seventh place on the Indian Super League table, five games into the campaign.
However, the club has wielded some star power having previously been managed by Manchester City greats Peter Reid and Nicolas Anelka. Also, former Manchester United striker Diego Forlan played for the club in 2016.
With the latest development, the club is expected to take giant strides forward in collaboration with the CFG.